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Is It Worth It?

On Sunday July 25, 2010, a pipeline carrying tar sands crude from
Alberta, Canada, burst open and spilled more than 1.1 million gallons of oil
into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River, near Marshall, Michigan. The oil coated wildlife and birds, soaked
into wetlands and waterways, and directly impacted farmland, businesses, homes
and communities as far as 40 miles away. After a delay of 17 hours, workers arrived on the scene and found that
the sludgy, toxic, tar sands crude sinks in water, rather than floats – making
it much more difficult to clean up. Recovery
efforts have already cost over $800 million, and the price paid in ecological
and human health is hard to measure.

As we move into the final phase of the Our Common Waters campaign, we’re
taking a close look at expanding tar sands development across North America. From the strip mining of tar sands in
Alberta, Canada, to the spider web of pipelines expanding across the U.S. and
Canada, to ports and coastal areas that would act as hubs for export: at
every point in the chain of production and transportation, water is at risk. The water we drink, the water we fish, the
water we swim and boat in, the only water we have.

But the impacts don’t stop at the point of extraction, as the Kalamazoo
spill proves. As noted above, tar sands
crude or “diluted bitumen” sinks in water, making spills much harder to clean up. It is also more acidic, more abrasive and
contains more sulfur and other corrosive substances than conventional crude. These traits, paired with the higher
temperature and pressure in tar sands pipelines, lead to a greater risk of
pipeline deterioration and rupture. Oil pipelines aren’t new to
North America – but the expansion of higher risk tar sands pipelines is. And, if one of these pipelines projects reaches
a coastal port, which is the current goal for the major oil companies involved,
access to overseas markets can only drive further development of this
unconventional oil. Check out a map of
tar sands pipeline projects here.

For several years, we’ve been tracking tar sands pipeline expansion
projects, working with partners to understand the complex situation and voice
our concern:

In August of 2011 and later in 2012, we
joined thousands of other activists, including Bill McKibben and organizations
like 350.org, in asking President Obama to reject plans for the Keystone XL
pipeline, which would connect the tar sands to the massive refinery and port
complex near Houston, Texas. Now 350.org is again at the
center of a push to convince President Obama to reject ongoing proposals and
plans for this pipeline early in his second term. Visit 350.org’s action site for more
information.

Since last year, we’ve supported
activism to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would stretch through
British Columbia to the western coast of Canada. Activists, including our partners at
Raincoast Conservation Foundation, have been quick to defend not only the pristine BC forests, rivers and
wetlands, but also to warn against the risks of oil spills from tankers along
the rocky and treacherous BC coast. Visit this link to learn more about a film project that we have supported
on this topic.

Finally, through the Our Common Waters
campaign, we’re working with two key partners – Environmental Defence (Canada)
and National Wildlife Federation (U.S.) – to shed light on a convoluted plan
to extend access for tar sands oil to the east coast, via the Great Lakes region,
back and forth across the U.S./Canada border, ending in Portland, Maine.

As we continue to track these projects through the Our Common Waters campaign, Patagonia recognizes that, as a business that relies on transportation of products from point of manufacture to our customers, we are daily relying on vehicles that are fueled by oil and gas products. Unlike the case where we can choose to buy only organic cotton for the clothes we make, or to use high levels of recycled content materials, our country’s infrastructure for oil and gas products doesn’t allow us to differentiate and choose between using tar sands oil and non-tar sands oil. It’s all mixed together: lower impact conventional oil products and “unconventional” oil products – and thus, we are using tar sands oil products.

In our opinion, this situation makes it all the more important to engage
in activism with a goal of reducing the current and future reliance of our
entire fuel system on high impact oil sources – our support of campaigns to
slow the development of tar sands extraction and pipelines is in line with this
goal.

At the same time, we are actively pursuing as much information about our
supply chain reliance on tar sands fuel as possible. Patagonia is
collaborating this year with the University of California Santa Barbara on a
research project to determine if it is feasible for us to avoid using tar sands
fuel in our transportation systems, as well as how best to integrate low-carbon
fuels and/or alter our business practices to reduce carbon emissions. In
addition, we will continue to support environmental groups taking action on the
tar sands issue with our grants program and various communication channels.

This year
will be an important one for these issues, and while we focus tightly on risks
to freshwater through the Our Common Waters campaign, the fact remains that tar
sands oil development poses an even greater risk to our environment. As James Hanson, NASA scientist and climate
expert notes, “Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen,
contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our
entire history….”, and if we extract and use this entire resource, the carbon
emitted into our atmosphere would mean “… game over for the climate.”

We hope
you’ll join us in learning more about the issue and taking action. For current
actions, visit:

Comments

Is It Worth It?

On Sunday July 25, 2010, a pipeline carrying tar sands crude from
Alberta, Canada, burst open and spilled more than 1.1 million gallons of oil
into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River, near Marshall, Michigan. The oil coated wildlife and birds, soaked
into wetlands and waterways, and directly impacted farmland, businesses, homes
and communities as far as 40 miles away. After a delay of 17 hours, workers arrived on the scene and found that
the sludgy, toxic, tar sands crude sinks in water, rather than floats – making
it much more difficult to clean up. Recovery
efforts have already cost over $800 million, and the price paid in ecological
and human health is hard to measure.

As we move into the final phase of the Our Common Waters campaign, we’re
taking a close look at expanding tar sands development across North America. From the strip mining of tar sands in
Alberta, Canada, to the spider web of pipelines expanding across the U.S. and
Canada, to ports and coastal areas that would act as hubs for export: at
every point in the chain of production and transportation, water is at risk. The water we drink, the water we fish, the
water we swim and boat in, the only water we have.